Rare Frequencies: The best of the spring's fringe harvest

There’s a fine array of experimental- and electronic-music releases set to bloom this spring. Here are five choice examples:

LAWRENCE ENGLISH | A COLOUR FOR AUTUMN | 12k | This seasonal release on 12k is a bit out of sequence, but the hazy, sublime sounds of A Colour for Autumn are perfect listening any time of year. Australia’s Lawrence English, who runs the Room40 label, uses a delicate mix of field recordings, live instruments, and electronics to evoke the beautiful tension of a season that is somehow neither here nor there.DOWNLOAD:Lawrence English, “Galaxie of Dust” (mp3)

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER | ZONES WITHOUT PEOPLE | Arbor |
Former local boy and current Brooklynite Daniel Lopatin (a/k/a Oneohtrix Point Never) makes no secret of his love for the trippy, cosmic sounds of early-’70s German synth music. This April he’s releasing his second solo vinyl full-length, and it’s pure retro-synthetic bliss. If you like the mellow synth stylings of Michigan’s ballyhoo’d Emeralds but could stand a little less guitar noodling, you will love Oneohtrix Point Never.DOWNLOAD: Oneohtrix Point Never, “Zones Without People” (mp3)

AREA C | THE PLANETARIUM PROJECT | Sedimental | In 2007 and 2008, guitarist Erik Carlson (a/k/a Area C) played four multi-media concerts in the Cormack Planetarium in downtown Providence. At each show, he collaborated with a different local improviser to create a loosely structured composition to go along with the Planetarium’s charmingly old-fashioned star-chart projections. This spring he’s releasing a collection of four meditative 30-minute-long pieces from these performances.DOWNLOAD: Area C with Black Forest/Black Sea, "The Planetarium Project [Excerpt]" (mp3)

HECKER | ACID IN THE STYLE OF DAVID TUDOR | Editions Mego | Austrian sound artist Florian Hecker is known for unleashing some seriously ferocious digital mayhem. His latest solo CD, due May 12, combines 20th-century avant-garde composition (as represented by the composer/pianist David Tudor) and the glowstick madness of rave culture. True to form, the results are a challenging, mind-altering listen with squelchy vintage synth sounds pinballing across the stereo field.

MARTYN | GREAT LENGTHS | 3024 | Producer Martin Deykers (a/k/a Martyn) made some of the loveliest dubstep-meets-techno 12-inches of 2008, among them the slinkily brilliant “Suburbia.” This spring his first full-length is due on his own 3024 imprint. To judge from his recent set here at Good Life and the clips on his MySpace page, it should be a corker.